**An Eternal Plan.** The Gospel itself, the so-called plan of salvation, or Great Plan, in obedience to which men guide their earth-lives, is eternal. It is not a temporary or transient thing, made primarily for the handful of men and women on earth, but it is an eternal plan based upon the everlasting relationship of the elements of the universe—a plan which, in some form, is adapted everywhere and forever, for the advancement of personal beings. This must be so, for it leads to a definite end, and in accordance with the law of cause and effect, it must have a universal meaning.
**Eternalism.** The Gospel is founded on tangible and eternal things and relationships. These eternal realities, no doubt, in their essence, lie beyond the full understanding of man, just as time and space transcend human understanding. This conception, carried far enough, leads to a gospel or life philosophy which is unshakable, because it rests upon eternal certainty. Without certainty, man is, in the great affairs of life, merely the driftwood of existence, moved hither and thither by the wind of doubt.
The Gospel may be said to be The Philosophy of Eternalism. The Gospel is immersed in the ocean of eternity.
CHAPTER 4.
THE WILL OF MAN.
The doctrine of the eternal nature of man is most characteristic of the Gospel. It is a doctrine which gives great satisfaction to all who have accepted the Gospel.
**The Primeval Condition.** All that is really clear to the understanding is that man has existed "from the beginning," and that, from the beginning, he has possessed distinct individuality impossible of confusion with any other individuality among the hosts of intelligent beings. Through endless ages, man has risen by slow degrees to his present state. Possibly, with respect to the coming day, man understands as little as did the spiritual beings with respect to present day conditions.
**The Intelligence of Man.** To speculate upon the condition of man when conscious life was just dawning is most interesting, but so little is known about that far-off day that such speculation is profitless. Nevertheless, of some things pertaining to the beginning we are fairly certain. The being which later became man, even in the first day possessed intelligence. That is, he was able to become aware of the external universe, to learn, and by adding knowledge to knowledge, to learn more. Then, as now, the universe was filled with matter acted upon by many forces, and an intelligent being in the midst of the interaction of forces and matter, must have become aware, measurably, of what was going on. From the beginning, the ego of man has been a conscious being, saying to itself, "This is I; that is not I. This life is apart from the life of all the rest of the universe."
**The Will of Man.** In addition to his power to learn and his consciousness of his own existence, the spiritual personality possessed, from "the beginning," the distinguishing characteristic of every intelligent, conscious, thinking being—an independent and individual will. No one attribute so clearly distinguishes man as does the intelligent will or the will to act intelligently. It was by the exercise of their wills that the spirits in the beginning gathered information rapidly or slowly, acquired experiences freely or laboriously. Through the exercise of their wills they grew, or remained passive, or perhaps even retrograded, for with living things motion in any direction is possible.
Naturally, the original spirit, possessing, with all other attributes of intelligence, the power of will, exercised that will upon the contents of the universe. The exercise of the will upon the matter and energy within reach, enabled the intelligent beings, little by little, to acquire power. By the use of his will upon the contents of the universe, man must have become what he now is.